Things to do this weekend in Ireland | Feb 23 - 25

The Fairy Queen arrives at Wells House & Gardens on Sunday afternoon and the special celebrations will include a Fairy Treasure Hunt with some unique and handmade Fairy Shoes to take home and a GIANT Bubble factory for kids of all ages to enjoy.

The festival continues all week with some entertaining and educational events including Dr. Megaphone’s Irish Jaunt in the Ulster Museum, Science Storytelling in various libraries, Life as an Astronaut in the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium and Understanding Our Oceans by diving into Exploris Aquarium’s series of hands-on, fun and educative workshops and activities.

Printfest gives you the opportunity to see the engineering behind the traditional craft of letterpress printing, as active retired printers and compositors demonstrate highlights of the Museum’s collection and share stories of their time in the print industry. Printfest is suitable for all ages, with many printing and craft activities for all the family!

Engineers Week is a week-long festival of nationwide events running celebrating the world of engineering in Ireland from 24 February to 2nd March.

A full weekend of family fun is planned; children and adults alike can come and enjoy a series of interesting shows and workshops to discover more about engineering.

Activities in Dublin will include LEGO workshops, Silly Billy show, problem solving with Elementary Engineering, Ireland’s Engineering Superhero show with Sue McGrath and lots, lots more. NUI Galway hosts a family fun day on 24th with plenty of science and engineering shows, movie screening, workshops and hands-on activities. Also, LSC in Cork will host two Robotics Workshops enabling children in the community to discover Engineering in a fun, engaging way.

Created by artist Eamon O’Kane, A History of Play is a colourful three-dimensional installation with childrenare invited to explore shape, colour and constructive design through imaginative and creative play. It is suitable for families, early years, schools and groups.

A hands-on workshop especially for Engineering Week. The Brickx Club offers a fun programme of themes, challenges, games and free play where LEGO® skills are taught, imaginations are developed, creativity flows, and teamwork is encouraged.

The workshop, on Saturday at 11am, is suitable for ages 5 years plus. Children must be accompanied by a ticket-holding adult.

Museum of the Moon is a temporary exhibit running until 4th of March at in W5, Interactive Discovery Centre in Belfast. It features a seven metre 3D replica of the moon using detailed NASA images of its surface.

The artwork allows you and your children to experience the moon in a different way due to the nearness and detail of the exhibit.

Kilkenny Animated is a new festival of visual storytelling, hoted by Cartoon Salon, in Kilkenny city this weekend. Cartoon Saloon have been nominated twice for Oscars with their films, The Secret of Kells, and more recently, Song of the Sea. They are assembling an amazing line-up of speakers and activities for this new festival.

There will be exhibitions of cartoonists and illustrators; standup comedy with animation, screenings, city projections, dance, workshops & graffitti.

The Gathering Traditional Festival is one of the biggest traditional music festivals in the country. The Gathering features concerts, céilís, sessions and storytelling as well as set dancing, singing and instrument masterclasses from 21st to 25th February.

Headquartered at The Gleneagle Hotel, this five-day festival attracts trad fans from the US, Britain, France, Germany and all over Ireland.

The Lambert Puppet Theatre bring the Three Little Pigs to Longford on Saturday afternoon.

Mummy pig is so proud of her little piglets, encouraging them to dream big and follow their hearts. Like all little ones, it’s not long before they’re all grown up and have to make a life for themselves. In this interactive solo puppet production, experience the three little pigs’ adventures and their encounter with a very hungry Big Bad Wolf.

Zootopia, an animated Disney comedy-adventure, is showing on Saturday afternoon, while Sunday features events as part of the Limerick Literary Festival, including Desert Island Books where Pat Shortt, Roisín Meaney and Lisa Harding discuss their three favourite books that they would take to a desert island.